The Mind's Scope
by A Martian's End
Summary: "How have you not gone insane? After all you've been through, surely you'd have broken?" "I never said I hadn't." In a world where Naruto, at the age of six, is brutally tortured as a birthday gift; he is given the chance to grow stronger under the tutelage of the infamous 'Darkness of Konoha'. Being trained as an assassin at the age of six, how will he cope? INDEFINITE HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

_**I give thanks to my beta/editor/friend**_ fauuj _ **for helping me complete this. Your work has been invaluable to me releasing this piece of literature. There will be much OOCness as I take Kishimoto's original characters and change them to suit this story. Updates will be extremely irregular, unfortunately, as I only write when I have the mind to do so. Enjoy.**_

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From the end of a pipe came smoke, lazily drifting into the air, bringing with it an enchanting aroma to release tension and soothe troubled minds. It was the only brand he'd used, for every year since he'd taken this job; a special blend of rare herbs and tobacco imported from Kusa. The chair tilted back with a creak as he allowed himself to forget his duties for this one moment of bliss.

The spell was lifted when one of the administrative chūnin of the village burst through his office door.

"L-Lord Hokage!" the man managed to say whilst gesticulating wildly, "i-it's a disaster! An emergency! A breach of the villages defences!" He continued on, his panic showing no signs of stopping.

Sarutobi Hiruzen took one last drag of his pipe while gazing at the man in front of him; under the rim of his Hokage hat, analysing the speaker to see if he could determine what the fuss was about. When the information proved to be unforthcoming, he let out a puff of smoke and interrupted the panicking individual, "Ryuji."

With a single word from the wise leader, the man known as Ryuji brought his rambling to a halt and promptly bowed in apology, "a-a thousand pardons, my lord! I-I got a bit- caught up with the events that took place! Please forgive me!"

Hiruzen let out a small chuckle. He was nothing if not forgiving, a fact that his old teammates reminded and berated him for being every day, "that's quite alright, Ryuji. Now if you would be kind enough as to inform me of what is distressing you so?"

"Oh! Of-of course! However, it's just terrible news, absolutely awful! I mean it's downright diabolical that someone would do such a thing! It-"

"Ryuji. You're rambling again."

"S-sorry My Lord. What I meant to say is, the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing has been stolen!"

The Hokage gave no signs of having heard him, instead staring at Ryuji with canvas-like eyes. Inside his head was another story. In reaction to the news a chaos of scenarios and theories on how this came to be collided with each other, until the wizened warrior pushed his speculating aside, and decided on the best possible course of action on how to deal with this threat.

He spent a second more in his thoughts until his voice came out, clear and determined, "ANBU, reach out to every chūnin and jōnin you can find and have them scour the forest for the one who stole the scroll!" the four hidden protectors that occupied the Hokage's office nodded, their orders had been given, the task would be carried without fail. The Hokage looked at the chūnin that still stood in his office, "that includes you as well Ryuji."

The aforementioned man jumped at the Hokage's directness and, with a hasty bow, scurried out of the office.

As soon as the man left, the Hokage let out a sigh and placed his head in his hand, ' _this is_ _a catastrophic situation_ _. If the secrets of the scroll get out... No. Our shinobi will not let such a thing happen.'_ The Hokage deliberated when a revelation struck him, ' _What if the scroll was not stolen by outside forces but_ _those_ _inside the village_ _?_ _And there's only one person in the village that has_ _the ability to become unseen on a whim that could pull this off…_ _I don_ _'t want to believe that he did it, but at this point I have to make sure. I can't rely on goodwill, unfortunately._ _'_ With a renewed vigour, the Hokage jumped out of his office window and through a series of shunshin he arrived at his destination.

He stood in one of the scummier suburbs of the village, that, whilst not being the worst area of town, was certainly far from the nicest. It consisted of one main road of which dark alleyways were strewn sporadically, coming off the road and leading to what really happened in this suburb. The Hokage's nose crinkled involuntarily at the noxious fumes being spewed by the chemical factory next to where he believed he would find _him_. As he climbed those eroding stairs, the Hokage grew regretful; he had not been here in months and surely the loneliness must have been suffocating, no matter what he had said to him, talking to that memorial stone was not a sane substitute for human companionship.

Reaching the apartment door the Hokage lightly pushed on the door and to his dismay, it opened with zero resistance due to it's crumpled pile of metal that used to be a lock, when the door scraped open, the Hokage saw a figure sitting on the floor. It had silver hair that spiked up in a way that seemed to defy gravity, under this mop of hair a single eye stared at the aged leader, widened in what could only be shock. It's hands were grasping onto a large scroll, as though it was it's lifeline, in the middle of unfurling.

In return, the Hokage's own eyes enlarged, until both occupants of the dirty apartment room were deer caught in each other's headlights. _'_ _How could this have happened?_ _'_ Hiruzen thought as his gaze turned to one of sorrow. He took a deep, shuddering breath before he spoke, "You... What happened to you…? Naruto?"

The young boy who sat in front the old man was littered with scars. There were jagged pink lines running up his arms, his legs were mottled, a dark, fleshy, burnt colour which could only be the work of fire. And on the left of his face, where his second orb of cerulean should have been there was now a hole. Sarutobi's gaze didn't meet his not eye.

The child who bore the image of a torture survivor crinkled his one good eye while smiling. He scratched the back of his head nervously and let out an awkward laugh, "heh heh. It's, uh, good to see you gramps! I would say come in but, err, you're already inside." He let out another laugh, his hands shaking lightly.

As the shock wore off the Hokage's eyes furrowed, Naruto was dodging the question. He'd have to be more forceful it seemed. He donned his "Hokage voice" as he liked to call it and spoke once more, "Naruto. I repeat, what happened to you?"

The child froze, the Hokage had never ordered him before. His hand dropped down to his side as he looked down. Tremors began to course through his body as he recalled the events that marked him so. He looked back up and laughed a dead laugh, "it was my birthday yesterday, you know? The village wanted to celebrate it."

The child then saw white that was on the side of grey, smelled tobacco and hibiscus, felt soft linen enveloping, heard the soothings of an old man who had been so busy that he'd forgotten to check on the child whom the near entirety of the village cursed as the demon. Sarutobi had stooped down and embraced Naruto, wrapping his arms around the frail child's malnourished body.

As he held Naruto there Sarutobi cursed his ignorance, his forgetfulness, that he couldn't protect the hero of Konoha. He cursed the council for stopping all the adoption requests from the few clans and ninja that cared for the boy. He cursed Minato for leaving his son parentless in the unforgiving ninja world. But it was in that moment, inside the maelstrom of hated curses that the Hokage knew what he had to do to at least try to repair some of the damage that the village had wrought.

When the Hokage pulled himself out of his deep thoughts he could feel the child he held shiver, he could hear Naruto's frantic, erratic breathing. He pulled out of the embrace and looked at the child with worry written in his eyes. "Naruto? What's wrong?" He feared the answer.

Naruto's eye snapped up to the Hokage, with all the panic of a startled deer, he cried out and shoved the man's arms away from him. He jumped out of the hold and, unbalanced, he fell to the floor, shivering and holding his arms so tightly it was as if he believed they'd fall off if he let go.

Worried, the Hokage reached out his arm to hold onto the quivering child in an attempt to comfort him, or at least understand why he's acting in such a way. His hand barely brushed Naruto's shoulder when the child jolted backwards as if he'd been electrocuted by the old man's touch.

Grief filled the Hokage's eyes. Naruto's actions had spoken far louder than any words could. The poor child of barely six had been targeted by spiteful citizens of Konoha, citizens that _he_ had to protect, and had been tortured and maybe worse. The various scars that even the chief of Torture and Interrogation would cringe at, was proof of it. The Hokage sighed, _'... and as if he hasn't suffered enough he seems to have developed a severe case of haphephobia, fear of touch. Not only that but his hair... The shock of being tortured must have turned his hair white, oh Naruto… How I've failed you. '_

Hiruzen tore his attention away from the wreck of the boy he'd known as Naruto and instead focused his mind on the scroll, lying open in front of him. The scroll protected by no less than fifteen ANBU at a time. Sometimes more _'how could he, in this state, manage to sneak inside the treasury, remove the scroll without alerting the guards, and make it all the way back here without being noticed by anyone?'_ The Hokage puzzled, _'hm... He must have either gotten someone to steal it for him, which is unlikely, or...'_ The Hokage finally turned back to Naruto and was surprised to find him no longer shaking, looking shocked or scared, instead he was staring deep into Hiruzen's eye with his own singular. His gaze held the most intense curiosity he'd witnessed since he'd taught Orochimaru.

If he had been honest with himself, he would have admitted that he felt fear then; towards the boy, towards this child that could change his personality from paralysed by a phobia to speculative and watchful like a predator eyeing its prey. _'...or maybe he truly did manage to steal this scroll.'_ Hiruzen frowned, realizing that Naruto wasn't as he'd portrayed himself to be, weak and helpless. With the knowledge that he had some measure of cunning and intelligence, the Hokage began to question him.

"Naruto, you know what this is don't you?" he waved a hand towards the scroll, still open. Naruto simply nodded, his gaze not leaving Sarutobi's, "so you know then how important it is, that the stealing of it is a serious crime punishable by death or indefinite imprisonment?" He had no intention of forcing either upon the child he considered his grandson, he needed to know, however, just how aware of his actions Naruto truly was.

"Of course I am, old man! Everyone who's going to be a ninja knows that in The Official set of Shinobi Laws: Konoha Version page 394, in the 'Punishable Actions' section, sub-section b, it clearly states 'removal of items from the Konoha Treasury without prior clearance from the full Ninja Council is a forbidden and punishable by either death or life-long confinement in Hozuki Castle.'" Naruto, voice full of life, spoke; reciting the verse from the 600+ page book without hesitation.

Sarutobi, a little taken aback by the fluency Naruto held over the ninja book, going so far as to remember the sub-section. He gathered himself though, now conscious of Naruto's startling intelligence, he spoke again, "So if you were so clearly aware of this, then why did you ignore the law, Naruto?"

Naruto gave the old man a joyless smile and gestured to his body, showing off his inflicted injuries, "To protect myself. I read in a book of Konoha lore that the Scroll of Sealing held the most powerful techniques in the village, with entries from all the four Kage of the village as well as those so dangerous that they were forbidden to ever be used by anyone." his smile became real, "I wanted to learn all of these so that…" his features became blank, "so that this never happens again."

Sarutobi closed his eyes and let out a breath, _'the boy's been brought so much misery at the hands of this village… I can't exactly fault him for wanting to protect himself but still, there are better ways to learn than this.'_ Sarutobi opened his eyes and unwillingly found his gaze on the hole where Naruto's left eye used to be and his mind drifted to another one eyed acquaintance he held. No, not acquaintance… Enemy? Rival? Advisor? No, none of those were right. _'Ah'_ he thought. Friend. Even after all they'd been through, Danzo was still his friend. He was his only friend. And then Hiruzen knew what he had to do.

The aged Kage cleared his throat and spoke, "Naruto, I'll be taking this scroll." Naruto nodded in resignation as his grandfather figure picked and rolled up the ancient scroll. Naruto closed his eyelids and waited for whatever punishment would be coming his way. Hiruzen saw this and chuckled, "Now, now, don't be that way. In light of recent events, I'd say you are justified enough in your reasons for taking this scroll, however I need you to promise me that you won't break Konoha's laws like this again."

Naruto gave him a quizzical look as he reopened his eyelids, "You want me to... promise? What's to stop me from going back on my word?"

Sarutobi paused for a moment, the boy was actually puzzled by this. Hiruzen spoke up again, "Naruto, when you make a promise you pledge your very existence as a human on that promise. To break a promise is to make you a liar, a coward, and a thief of trust. No one will trust you, depend on you, or respect you if you cannot keep a promise," At this Sarutobi let out a small chuckle, "and you can't exactly become a Hokage without people giving you their trust, dependence, and respect, can you?"

Realization dawned in his eyes soon to be replaced with conviction, "Then I promise to you, old man, that I won't break another of Konoha's laws again," he gave a foxy grin, that, combined with his missing eye, gave him an unintentionally frightening visage, "I pledge on my soul."

Sarutobi smiled, he could tell that this would be a big step in Naruto's personality development. As Sarutobi was about to move into the second stage of his plan he looked where Naruto's eye used to be, _'Priorities… I have all the time to tell him about that, I should get him cleaned up first.'_ The Hokage plastered on a smile as he'd grown accustomed to doing over his years and spoke gently to Naruto, "I have something I'd like to offer you, but before I can do that I believe it would be best if we covered up your eye, we wouldn't want to risk it getting infected now, would we?" The Hokage, always a master of politics, phrased his question so as to make it appear to be Naruto's choice to cover up his distracting missing eye.

Naruto gave the Hokage a "cute" one-eyed glare and huffed, "Don't think I already thought about that? I have nothing I can use as a cover for it." He sighed, "You have no idea how weird it is going around with only one eye. I kept getting really freaked out looks when I was going to your tower."

The Hokage chuckled at that, "Well I'm sorry to hear that Naruto, I have something however that can help with the looks you get." he channelled chakra through his arm and in a cloud of chakra smoke from his hands appeared a black medical eye patch, "I have many medical supplies on my person, and while I know that hospital bandages and other similar paraphernalia are traditionally white, these are for our ninja who conceal themselves in the shadows."

Naruto's eyes had widened when the eye patch appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and they stayed wide throughout Hiruzen's explanation. As Hiruzen bent over to fit the eye patch over his eye socket Naruto asked, "These bandages are for ninja? Does that mean you're going to let me join the ninja academy, old man?" His voice was full of childish excitement at the prospect of taking his first big step to becoming a ninja.

Hiruzen, done with the eye patch, stood upright again and addressed Naruto's question, "I actually had something I wanted to tell you about that, Naruto. Considering that you managed to sneak into The Treasury, successfully steal the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing and escape undetected by the ANBU squads that occupy the tower, well… It's my opinion that going to the academy would just hold back your potential," seeing that Naruto was about to make an outburst Hiruzen held up his hand to signify he wasn't finished speaking. Naruto begrudgingly stopped himself and gave the Hokage a pseudo-glare, "So, taking that into consideration I've decided to put you under the apprenticeship of one of the most intelligent ninja that I know. I believe his… history, in raising shinobi, will help you immensely."

Sarutobi was about to ask whether Naruto would accept his offer, but it was unnecessary. "I can be trained personally by a ninja! That's the coolest thing ever! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed, in a state of joy. Sarutobi chuckled, and wondered if Naruto would think the same way once he'd met who it was that would be training him.

As the Hokage sat back in his chair he sighed, and so too did the leather he sat upon. He'd just finished recalling all of the forces he'd sent in search of the scroll, saying that it had been found. The excuse was barely passable; the scroll had been dropped just inside the village gates, and the thief, realizing that he would be caught, fled the scene. Needless to say, that had taken quite a while to convince the shinobi populace that that was the truth of the matter. Sarutobi shoved those thoughts aside and decided that it had been a long day and he needed a smoke of his pipe. _'Although,'_ he mused, _'even if it hadn't been a long day I would still be smoking.'_ Being the ever amused man he'd become he chuckled at this thought as he placed the pipe into his mouth, ignited the tobacco inside and sighed, closing his eyes in relief as the nicotine coursed through his body. _'And now I wait for the inevitable visit.'_

He sat for not a full minute before he heard the familiar tapping noise of a cane on the floor in front of him, "That smoking of yours is a bad habit, Hiruzen." The voice of a dangerous man penetrated his eardrums and Hiruzen chuckled and opened his eyes.

"Allow an old man his pleasures, Danzo. I've reached and moved long past the age where my habit really doesn't matter anymore," his eyes danced with mirth, this scene having replayed itself many times since he'd reclaimed the title of Hokage.

Standing in front of the Hokage's desk a man stood, bandages swathing his right arm and eye, he stared seemingly impassively with his uncovered left eye at Hiruzen, yet Sarutobi knew from their years of comradery that he was just as amused as he was.

"That aside, why did you lie to the village's forces?" Danzo voiced his query and Hiruzen could only guess at how he knew it was a lie.

Hiruzen gave Danzo a challenging smile, "Did the roots of Konoha inform you of this, Danzo?" the silence that followed only made Hiruzen's smile widen, "excellent, then I don't have to explain to you how the scroll was removed, now do I?"

"No, you do not." Danzo confirmed, "Yet you have yet to answer my question. Although I have an idea of why you did not, why have you not punished the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki? He has committed crimes against our village, yet he walks away untouched. Why?"

Hiruzen sighed, leant back in his chair, and contemplated how to go about informing Danzo of Naruto's situation, "Yesterday was Naruto's birthday... And, at some point during that day, a group of unidentified individuals abducted Naruto and tortured him. They burned him, marked his flesh with scars, and for reasons unknown, they took his eye."

Understanding filled Danzo's own eye, "So he stole the scroll in an attempt to learn from it and stop something like that from happening to him again. I see."

Hiruzen sighed, "Do you see? I wish I hadn't. He was completely unrecognisable apart from his whisker marks. Even his hair is different now, changed white due to severe trauma." The Hokage sighed, "I doubt the poor child will ever be the same again."

Danzo remained unfazed by this, having already received a description of Naruto's visage from the ROOT he had following Sarutobi, "So, will you deny the boy the right to receive power to protect himself, Hiruzen? If you let me train him he could become more powerful than any of your predecessors, Hiruzen. You just have to allow me to help the boy tap into his potential." Danzo spoke now, he'd phrased the question to Hiruzen countless times while the boy had been alive, only to be given the same answer every time: a resounding no. Yet despite the past failures, Danzo felt that perhaps this reasoning, coupled with the events that the boy went through over the past two days, would finally sway the old man into giving in and allowing Danzo to induct the boy into ROOT.

With these words he relaxed, breathing in the scent of his office, the aroma of burning tobacco, the smell of wood from the planked floors, the chemicals from the cleaning products used on his office when he went to his near-empty house. He took it all in one open, relaxed breath.

This put Danzo on guard.

The village leader leaned back, eyes gazing into the roof of the wooden cage he'd been re-confined to for the past six years, and perhaps past it, into the place where his loved ones rested and where he longed to be.

It was a single moment, to Danzo it seemed like an eternity. His Hokage was giving up, it seemed, and this terrified the hawk. His village could not have a Kage that would give up to anyone, let alone themselves.

It passed, and eyes of steel replaced those of dreams. With one statement, Danzo felt his work pay off, and forgot all about Hiruzen's moment of weakness.

The hawk grinned, "then let's make it official, shall we?"

The monkey stood and stared down the hawk, "step forward Danzo. With the power granted to me as the Third Hokage, by the Second Hokage, I commission you as sole teacher over civilian, Naruto Uzumaki. Do you swear to do honour by the code of conduct written by Lord Second?" He spoke and all of Danzo's dreams were realised.

"I swear."

"Then it is done. I hereby name you teacher and legal guardian over apprentice Naruto Uzumaki."

Danzo was ecstatic, the world's most powerful weapon was in his hands, all he needed now was to mold him into a perfectly loyal drone that would serve only him and he could-

"Guardian? Hiruzen, you mentioned nothing of guardianship over the boy!"

The monkey grinned, his battle won, "oh, silly me. I appear to have missed over a few details of your new position didn't I? Naruto's not just any child prodigy that you can teach and have your way with, he's special because of his status and heritage." A forlorn look crossed his features, "You've heard how his apartment was broken into and his body mutilated. I have no intention of a repeat of that desecration of the Fourth Hokage's dying wish," He glanced sidelong at the hawk, "so there will be changes to the usual verbal contract that Sensei's agree to."

Danzo contemplated this. _'On one hand, I gain more access to the boy and his life than I would have as a normal sensei, but these other adjustments he's alluding to… I'll just have to take that chance. This is as close to the perfect deal that I'm going to get.'_ "Alright Hiruzen, let's hear about these changes."

In a crumbling building, a child dug under a bed in the most abominable apartment for his spoils of war. _'The infiltration and deception was textbook,'_ thought the child, _'although deceiving the only one kind enough to give me some time of their day leaves a kind of aching feeling. I hope he doesn't find out and lose his trust in me…'_ he unintentionally let out a laugh, _'Actually, my personality was jumping around so much he probably already realised it was a lie… I'm gonna have to work on that...'_

He found his now most prized possession and cradled it. Climbing on top of the bed it unfurled and he began reading, "Shadow Clones, hm?"


	2. Chapter 2

He awoke.

At first he was unsure of what had roused him, then he felt the familiar sensation of someone watching him, scrutinising his every move, his interactions with the world, the very way he breathed. He was not unused to waking up like this. Living like this. It was too often that some random drug-addled person had the sense in coming into his apartment, if the decrepit pile of bricks could be called that, in an attempt to rid the world of "evil most foul". It had happened so often that he was comfortable with it. Comfortable? No that can't be right, he was never comfortable… he accepted the event as a circumstance of his existence. Comfort was a concept that no longer existed for him.

So, as he opened his eye and scoured the room with his gaze, taking in the dark greyness of early morning, he was surprised to find that no one was there. The room was empty, yet the feeling of being watched persisted nevertheless.

He glared, angry that someone was able to see him yet not be seen. Somehow, though, he stilled himself. He sat up on his bed and took up the lotus position, crossing his legs and placing his arms on them as though he were to meditate. His heart rate slowed, his breaths came in longer and out deeper. What he was doing was a beginner sensor skill that involved taking attention away from the body and focusing it on chakra sources outside of his physical sensations. It allowed him to 'feel' anything within a _very_ short range that had a developed chakra network. Granted, it wouldn't sense anyone that could aptly hide their chakra signature, but he did not know of that, the book hadn't spoke of it.

Minutes passed by as he tried to reach the equilibrium of his body and mind. He could not speak of the exact moment that it came unto him, but when it happened he felt his mind drift into a higher place, an ethereal plane where he surrounded himself with nearby chakra sources, he bathed in them, drank in their very existence and understood what made them be. It was strange that this was only a beginner technique. His 'eyes' looked up, two stories above, there was a being who was ripping his chakra apart; it convulsed as a chakra that did not belong to it entered its system and tore the thin lining of the walls that kept chakra contained within. His mind watched as the chakra scattered from the being, free from the mortal coil, it ascended.

He realised that his attention had wandered, it was easy for that to happen when your mind witnessed a beauty as extravagant as chakra. He recentred his concentration on finding what was eyeing him, and found a small wisp of chakra that couldn't belong to a human. It was far too small. He grudgingly dragged himself out of his altered mindset and shuffled off of his bed, eyeing the corner of his roof. Leaning down, he picked up one of the many books littering his floor and checked it's significance. Satisfied that there was none, he threw the piece of literature into the corner.

A shadow dropped down, grabbed the book and held it. He froze, that wasn't something he'd ever witnessed. Despite being unnerved that this man had appeared from nothing and hidden his chakra essence, he posed his questions, "Who are you? Why are you in my room?"

The man read the title of the offending book that had attacked him and began to leaf through the pages.

He was irritated by this, how dare this person ignore him? "What the fuck are you doing here, mummy?" Using some of the more colourful language he'd picked up, living where he did, he tried to get the man's attention once more.

It worked and the man paused, mid-page. With a glance upwards at him, the man met his eye and they engaged in a one-eyed staring contest in silence. He felt sweat on his neck.

The man was the first to break the quiet, "You have a mouth on you. And such a poor vocabulary, we'll need to fix those things first." The man snapped the book shut and walked out of his room. Confused, he followed him, the man continued walking through the apartment towards some wretched planks of wood bound together into a front door.

He was confused, _'this person's just going to say that and leave? What's up with this guy!'_ He thought heatedly, "You still haven't answered my question, you one-eyed cun-!"

In a swirl of greys he twisted and fell, his head on the floor and the feel of cold steel against the back of his neck. The man spoke coolly next to his ear, "You will address me as your superior from now on, child. Any other displays of verbal savagery and I'll leave marks on you."

He didn't move, mind trying to catch up and understand what had happened, his eye couldn't keep up. The man moved away and he lay on the floor, still, for a moment. When he shook himself from his shocked state and stood up, the man was at the "door". He pulled it open and, just before he stood outside he spoke, "Meet me at Training Ground Four, in one hour." The man spoke curtly, formally, without need for niceties. As an afterthought, this stranger added, "My name is Danzo, _I look forward to working with you_ , Uzumaki." The words that came out did not sound like they belonged to this person, now known as Danzo. Danzo would have deemed them unnecessary, a triviality, but it seemed as though he was forced to say them.

Danzo said these things and then he was gone, door still wide open. Naruto growled at the emptiness and cursed the man for being so queer. This "Danzo" person was like no other person he'd encountered in his life, when their eyes met he could feel no loathing emanating from him, no kindness, no pity, he was blank.

Naruto envied him for it.

It was when he walked through the path that the man's cloak had left in the dust, a clean walkway on a dirty floor, that he realised that there had been no trace of his entry, only his exit. If Naruto hadn't been curious about the man before, then he most certainly was now.

He tried to grab the handle of the door and missed. He frowned and succeeded in his task the second time. Now angry, he went to his fridge to see what edibles he could scrounge from the collection of fungi growing in his food storage.

He found a cup of instant ramen and nodded, it was a trustworthy food that had never spoiled for him. Walking to the sink, amongst piles of dishes that had never been washed, he placed a semi-clean pot under the tap, turned it, and was pleasantly surprised to find that he had water today. Turning on the stove, he was more than surprised to find that he had gas as well. It seemed that things were working in his favour today.

He began the preparation process of heating instant ramen, and let his thoughts drift to events that had changed his life entirely these last three days. Skipping the first day, he focused his attention on yesterday's escapades, and particularly last night's readings. The scroll was undoubtedly the most enrapturing item he'd ever laid eye upon, not just for the "cool, explosive-y" techniques that someone by the name of "Tree" raved about for what would have been pages (if the scroll consisted of such things), he was completely taken by the theoretical techniques that had never been tested, because they were too dangerous to use on humans, or were too inhumane to even think of.

He'd simply been reading last night, used to getting little to no sleep. He was excited to begin learning and testing them. However there was a problem, he had no idea of the capacity of chakra he held. Most, if not all, of the techniques required a gargantuan chakra supply that he was quite sure that he did not possess with a body as small as his own. As the book shops for civilians provided no information about the workings of chakra and ninjutsu, he had no jutsu theory and application outside of the strange astral projection technique he'd used earlier. It was then that the solution presented itself; he'd used the technique earlier for a reason, _'Perhaps this "Danzo" character will be able to provide me with the information I need. He was able to do such unusual things, he just has to be a ninja, or at least know chakra theory.'_ With this thought, he decided to accept Danzo's invitation. Wary that he did not have all that much time to prepare, and that he didn't even know where the Training Ground was, he turned off the stove and rushed into his room to dress himself properly.

Under a pile of clothes, placed seemingly thoughtlessly, haphazardly, without purpose, Naruto dug. He reached the bottom of the pile and shoved the clothing to the side, his intention lay under the floorboards. Pressing down on one half of a particularly short plank, it sank into the floor as the other end rose. He smiled at what he saw beneath his flooring, he had to dress to impress didn't he?

The outfit was new, and had only been worn during yesterday's thieving adventure. He grinned genuinely as the smile was covered by a half mask, inspired by the man whom he spent time with at the memorial stone. Now he found that they shared an eerie similarity in looks, since he lost his eye when the- when he lost his eye. He favoured stealth, he adored and was jealous of the shadows. He wore black as a tribute to them, so that he may become like them. A simple long sleeved top covered his torso, with a torso length far too long for his body, it continued to his mid-thigh. His pants were long also, with more pockets than he knew what to do with. It would have been unusual to see, considering Konoha's typically hot weather, but he no longer cared for the heat. He shivered, and felt that he was not wearing enough, he turned to the pile of clothes he used as a hiding place for his hiding place and searched through them for something else to cover himself, he felt so strangely naked suddenly.

He found something that would help keep him warm he hoped. A black, logoless, hoodie. Walking out of the room, he pulled it over his head. In the kitchen, his pot of ramen remained, cooled now, he wasted no time with a bowl, or even chopsticks, instead grabbing a fork to use on the noodles. He ate quick and not enough; he did not have the time to finish, he felt. He left the coldness of his apartment and went to search for information on where the training ground was. He felt cold.

* * *

The hawk perched on top of the Hokage's tower, his mind on the recent encounter with his soon to be student, he had mixed feelings. _'He seems to be somewhat intelligent, those books I saw were not exactly for children, but they all seem to be forgeries. And poorly designed ones as well.'_ He held the pile of pages stapled together that he referred to as a "book", the cover read "The Republic", _'Although I despise his vulgarity, it's far from the worst thing he could do, it's fixable; though he seems to only use such language when provoked, then he's overcome by an uncontainable anger. Although, there was that time on the bed. he seemed to be so aggravated that he could not find me; yet he reined in the rage, becoming emotionless to perform that sensor technique…'_ The hawk's features shifted ever so slightly, so slight that only someone that knew his mannerisms would understand that he was incredibly irritated.

There were just too many unusual qualities in the boy that he'd picked up during their brief meeting, he couldn't judge the boy properly. He let out a barely audible breath, his equivalent of a sigh, and turned his mind to how the boy would manage to find Training Ground Four. Since Hiruzen had forbidden him to raise him as he had done with ROOT, he was forced to use a more tame method of determining the child's potential as a shinobi of The Leaf.

He knew that no one in the village would actually willingly give the boy the information that he needed to locate the training ground he'd specified, he'd made sure of it. Whether the boy passed this little test was inconsequential to Danzo's plans for the child, though he would use it as a gauge for his information gathering skills.

Danzo's features shifted into obvious anger, a rarity for him; he'd rather not have to teach the boy the full shinobi arsenal, and techniques that every ninja should know. A sword should be used to strike any enemy, in his opinion; he believed the entire exercise to be wasted; he wanted a weapon, _not_ a spy.

But he just had to put up with it; those were the terms of the agreement with Hiruzen, and this was his best chance at making sure that the child became strong enough to protect the village and wipe out all her enemies. He supposed that it wasn't too bad, after all, as the Darkness of Shinobi; he specialised in this field.

Old joints cracked as Danzo moved from his static position. He stood on the edge of the building, looking down on the villagers he'd sworn to protect from the underground; the roots that drew nutrients for the rest of the tree. _'I wonder how this particular root will support the tree…'_ And with that thought, he vanished.

* * *

Sitting in a convenient corner of two buildings of inconsequential purpose, the shadow cast by the sun on these buildings concealed a small figure, clothed head to toe in black, staring up at the Hokage Tower. A darkness had flickered at the top of his vision and disappeared. He eyed the spot where it had been for a moment too long before he returned his focus onto the entrance to the Hokage Tower, and his attention to the task at hand.

Namely, stealing the 'Ninja Activities Guide: Konoha Edition'.

A task that was easier said than done. There was only one of these guides in existence and it belonged to a man considered to be the meanest, angriest, most grizzled veteran in all of Konoha: the Hokage's secretary, Furui Gekido. Gekido was the man who made sure all the necessary tasks, such as delegating missions to the ninja corps and sorting paperwork necessary for either the Hokage's direct handling or any of the other various administrative shinobi, ran like clockwork.

He had an explosively short fuse, and was rumoured to have once thrown a chuunin through the window of the Hokage's office for being 30 seconds late to a meeting. So Naruto figured that if he was caught in the act by this man, he didn't have much of a chance escaping without any new injuries. A remote part of him saw the irony in that he was going to be stealing from the Hokage Tower for the second time in just two days; this part also saw how this would be breaking the promise he'd made with the Hokage only yesterday.

He'd debated the option of asking the man for the guide, but he'd reckoned that those chances were slim to none, it was better to catch the man unawares and unsuspecting of any thievery than informing the man beforehand that someone, namely Naruto, would be attempting to steal his guide book. The booklet contained the information Naruto needed, such as where all the training grounds were located and the whereabouts of Konoha's ninja supply stores. The latter part was not necessary for him just yet, but he'd figured that if he was going to become a ninja then he should at least know where he could buy a kunai.

Still, despite how incredibly useful the information in the book would be to Naruto, he still felt a pang of guilt, knowing that he'd be betraying the word he gave to the Hokage. Suddenly, his head jerked as he remembered something. It wasn't often that Naruto thought of himself as an idiot, but in this instance he felt the need to call himself one. He realised that it was unnecessary for him to steal the guide, after all, he had other means of extracting the information from pages. Naruto discarded his hoodie, despite how much colder it was now that his body was more exposed, the bulky piece of clothing would simply get in the way of his mission. With a plan in mind, and knowing that he had a time limit, Naruto readied his supplies and set out for the tower.

* * *

Danzo, standing in Training Ground 4, looked at the tree's shadows cast by the sun's rays and judged that the hour time limit he'd given Naruto was almost up. That was not to say that he would refuse to teach the boy if he did not meet the deadline, he'd simply hold him in a lower regard and make the boy aware of it. He exhaled longer than was standard, irritated that he lacked any way to properly punish the boy and discipline him like he would with his ROOT.

He surveyed his surroundings, Training Ground 4 was known, by the few that knew of it, as the most annoying Ground for any ninja to train in; yet it was the most useful. It was marked by constantly changing conditions; even containing its own weather pattern that didn't conform to the rest of Konoha's weather, as though it was separated from the village and was its own disconnected island despite being attached to the village. As it was now, the area was formed to be marsh land, reminiscent of the Land of Swamps. Danzo saw the unstable earth that looming trees grew in for what it really was, he knew that anyone unprepared who stepped on the earth would sink to the bottom of the hidden bog. A dirty river cut through the centre of the Ground, and fish could just be observed swimming amongst the reeds; the land contained it's own fauna and flora for each different terrain that possessed the land.

Danzo had purposely picked this Ground for its unpredictability, it allowed him to teach the child to fight in a myriad of battle grounds that the boy may end up fighting upon in the future. Plus, he felt a certain part of him felt a wave nostalgia when he came here as this was where he himself was taught. Danzo hated that part of him, yet he knew that it was vital for him to have. His feelings, they were what stopped him from becoming a tool to be used.

His gaze found a place to focus when his ears picked up the unmistakable squelching sound of someone traipsing through mud. Walking alongside the river bank, he spotted a figure, adorned in all black approaching him, he tensed: he had not expected anyone other than the boy to come, this ground was off the grid, for all intents and purposes, it didn't exist. The person noticed Danzo then as well, as their eyes locked in a one-eyed staring contest Danzo relaxed slightly, realizing that it was simply his charge. The boy wore an attire befitting of a ninja. Danzo was pleased with this, even if it was just the boy's outward appearance, it showed how serious about becoming ninja the boy was. He felt relief in that the boy had taken up his "offer" for training, Sarutobi would not be pleased if Naruto had to "disappear" so that he could force the training.

The boy had reached him and now stood there, staring, as if expecting something. Danzo couldn't imagine what it was so, not caring, he spoke, "How did you locate this place?" It was a simple question, to gauge the boy's skill. Clearly his information gathering prowess was spectacular, to be able to discover this place, Danzo was now infinitely more curious. This boy, who came dressed like the child shinobi of Danzo's time, piqued his interest like no other had.

The boy seemed to take on a disappointed mantle momentarily, then he shivered, shook it off, and spoke, "I used the Ninja Guide Book, Danzo-sama."

Danzo's first impression after this statement was surprise at the use of outdated honorifics. Placing sama after the name as a sign of respect was a tradition long lost to the shinobi world, it was rarely used and the only ones Danzo knew to employ the honorifics were his subordinates in ROOT. More shock rattled him at the boy's previous words. The Ninja Guide Book was not a widely known object, only the Hokage, his advisors, Danzo, and the man who wielded the guide, Furui Gekido, were aware of the existence of this guide as it contained detailed information of all the village's ninja workings. If any enemy ninja was in need of schematics and blueprints for Konoha's structures or Konoha as a structure, The Guide would hold all the information they needed.

So Danzo's mindset at these words was predisposed to incredulation at the boy's bold statement, a small amount of amusement at the irony in the boy calling him _"sama"_ , and an anger that was held in at the seams if what he spoke of was the truth. Danzo considered the words and found that it was _incredibly likely_ that the boy had stolen The Guide, after all it was only the day before that he'd obtained the Forbidden Scroll. Armed with these thoughts and attempting to bottle his uncharacteristic rage, he began the interview/interrogation of the Kyuubi's container.

Danzo next asked the boy how he'd retrieved The Guide. Any normal shinobi, he figured, would have demanded proof of such an act and then would probably have carted off the offender of this 'criminal'(Danzo was bemused that despite a village actively practicing murder as a job, they still held enough self-righteousness to incarcerate those who performed free acts that the ninja were paid to do) offence to the Uchiha police. Danzo was, by no means, a normal shinobi.

The child's facial features twitched downwards momentarily; signalling, to Danzo's trained eye, offence taken. Though this baffled Danzo as to why a child would be offended when asked a simple question, he stilled his voice and listened to the boy's explanation.

"I didn't steal the guide, Danzo-sama, I'd just like to clarify that." Well, Danzo supposed that it's possible that the child merely looked at the guide to determine the location of the training ground. However, Danzo didn't believe that. The boy had already shown a particular quirk of gathering every advantage available, his thieving of the Forbidden Scroll and those fake books that littered his apartment were proof of that. He was patient, he wouldn't call the boy out just yet, he'd wait until the end of the pseudo debriefing.

"I guess I should start from the beginning, yeah? So I left my… _apartment_ … shortly after you did and began searching for this place. But, as you probably know, I'm not really well liked-" the boy's hand shuddered upwards, as if to touch where his eye once was, but quelled his urge, "-so I couldn't exactly ask anyone for directions. I have to admit, I was at a loss for how I'd get here. All of the village's standard maps made no reference to Training Ground 4; there was Training Grounds 3 and 5, the fourth one seemed to just not exist. But then I remembered…"

In this instant Danzo remembered why he'd ordered his subordinates to simply inform him of a mission's success or failure; mission reports were the most devastatingly dull things that he'd ever had the displeasure to be witness to. He realised that, uncharacteristically, in his muse he'd lost his focus on the child's words, "...so I decided to infiltrate the building from the inside on the grounds that there was much more cover indoors in the form of desks and piles of paper and the like. I scaled up the building from the inside, using the shadows as cover, until I reached Furui Gekido's office. The man was out on his regular 11:30 meeting with the Hokage, so I knew the office would be empty. The Guide was located in his desk in a seal-locked drawer, I had already prepared a counterseal for this particular lock and once I applied it the drawer opened with ease. I quickly copied the contents of the guide and exited the building out the window before making my way here."

At the end of the recount, silence reigned in the swamp as Danzo processed the child's tale. It was something that could hardly be believable if Danzo was not already aware of the boy's developed infiltration and extraction skills. Yet the skeptic in him refused to believe this story as fact without the proper evidence. "Show me this fake guide of yours, child."

Another twitch of the boy's hand, the difference between this and the one prior being that the child appeared to have wanted to harm him. Curious. Danzo filed the knowledge of this trigger away under "Emotional Imbalances".

"I'm making an effort to be polite to you Danzo- _sama_. It'd be great if you'd do the same, yeah?" A furrowed brow and strained voice was all Danzo needed to hear so as to understand the boy's state of anger. _He's far too easily aggravated. Yet another imperfection we'll have to work on. I cannot allow this weapon to be anything but perfect, he holds more power than anyone in the village after all._ Danzo ignored the boy's outburst in favour of planning how he would fix the boy.

The grey-maned youth seemed to realise that there would be no acknowledgement coming forthwith from Danzo so, grumbling incoherently, he produced from a pocket a few sheets stapled together with the words 'Ninja Activities Guide: Konoha Edition' written on them in cursive.

At first Danzo was impressed at the boy's detailed copy, even the handwriting seemed to be imitated to a degree, yet it was three pages in that Danzo noticed sidenotes in a handwriting he was familiar with as he had forged it on occasion. Hiruzen Sarutobi's own notes were written in the papers, and although Danzo had not had the pleasure to see the guide himself, he knew that this could not be a farce.

* * *

Irritated, Naruto brushed several grey locks away from his only working eye. Danzo had been nothing but annoying to Naruto since the moment they'd met. He stole his book, forced him to technically break his vow to his only friend, and now he was even calling him 'child'. Naruto was only here on the vague hint that they would be working together, presumably for ninja training, and Danzo's attitude was pushing Naruto very close to just saying 'fuck it' and ditching the whole thing. The only thing stopping him was the fact that Danzo had his guide. And knew where he lived. And could probably kill him without Naruto ever being aware.

He inwardly groaned; he hoped that this was all worth it, as he had put far too much effort into the ordeal for his liking. He'd even gone at length to call Danzo by what was assumably his title, as he'd heard several particularly animate shadows discussing their orders from 'Danzo-sama'. These orders were not very light in nature either. In fact Naruto was certain that, had he been discovered, the shadows would have ended him. Not that the shadows would ever have been aware that Naruto overheard them, he doubted they would ever have assumed that the mouse that crawled a little too close to them had a silence seal counterseal attached to it's back.

Naruto very suddenly snapped his attention back to reality and cursed himself for leaving his hoodie behind in his haste to arrive promptly, although it would have done little to help him. He felt as though his body had been drenched in a freezing-over river and then pulled out and exposed to the below freezing air; the chill that went down his spine could not be simply called a chill, Naruto's body was encased in ice, he was certain. He must have been caught unawares by one of those Ice Release users he'd heard about in the land of snow, they must have infiltrated the village once they'd heard about the monster they were harbouring and decided to teach it a lesson like everyone else did. He must have- "Uzumaki."

He gasped, and greedily drank in the air he hadn't realised he'd been deprived of. A cold sweat left him shaking unsteadily as, on all fours, he struggled to rise to his feet. At the top of his vision he saw the robes of Danzo and knew that he was the source of the voice.

With carefully placed words, the old man spoke, "That coldness you just experienced, that was simply a fraction of the killing intent I have at my command. And I will not hold back as I did just now; I will put enough pressure into my intent that it will cause heart failure if you pull another stunt like that." Naruto's eye raised to lock with the old man's own gaze, yet the icy feeling had not dissipated, and this seemed to be enough to keep him from meeting Danzo's eye.

Dejectedly staring at Danzo's feet he phrased his next words cautiously, "I don't understand what you mean, Danzo-sama… What exactly did I do?"

Danzo's pause was off putting to him, he could only hope that Danzo wouldn't see fit to hit him with his intent once more. When the old man spoke Naruto let out a breath that he hadn't noticed he was holding, "You lied to me, this is clearly the real Ninja Activities Guide. Did you think I wouldn't notice the Hokage's handwriting as notes? Or perhaps you simply did not notice it yourself. It doesn't matter, I suppose."

This statement sparked some of the energy back into Naruto and he shakily stood up, "I did not lie Danzo-sama! What you are holding in your hands is a copy! I used my own technique to mimic The Guide onto blank paper! You've gotta believe me!"

Danzo posed his next question as a statement, "You mean to tell me that you have developed a completely original ninjutsu that can copy any and all writings."

"Not exactly…" Naruto ruffled inside his pocket for a moment before producing a paper, "It's more of a seal. Only works once though"

With measured movements Danzo reached out to hold the piece of paper that had written on it, what would have seemed to the casual passerby as mere squiggles on a sheet, an intricate masterwork of design and innovation. Danzo's eye looked over the seal and his mind instantly registered every component that brought the seal to existence. He understood all of it and saw that it all meshed perfectly, that it worked. _He's full of surprises... Too many._ Danzo stared at the child before him and came to an epiphany.

Without a word, Danzo grabbed Naruto's shoulder and, ignoring the shiver, they disappeared as a flurry of leaves burst from their afterimage.

In a familiar enclosed space they landed and Danzo allowed the child to tear away from him. "The hell was 'at?" Why're we in my apartment?"

Danzo responded by knocking the boy on the head hard enough to force him to the ground, "You will use polite language or else I shall remind you like this each time you 'forget'. We are here because thanks to new information you have given me, I have reason to believe that there is a copy of The Forbidden Scroll somewhere in this building." Danzo held up the seal that Naruto had handed to him as evidence.

Naruto growled and lunged at the paper, "Gimme that back!"

Again, Danzo knocked the boy on the head, yet this time Naruto was left kneeling. Danzo had not adjusted his force. "I have previously warned you, you will use polite language."

Naruto glared up, his eye narrowed, "Would you please give me back my seal, Danzo-sama?" he strained.

Naruto found his footing gone from him this time as Danzo simply said, "Tone."

Naruto looked about ready to kill. Shaking with rage, he lay on the floor for a while longer trying to gain some semblance of self-control back. Finally, with an exhale, he stood up and looked the older man in the eye, "Danzo-sama, would you please return to me my seal?"

He nodded and held his arm out as Naruto carefully took hold of his prized work and pocketed it.

"Now to business, where is the copy?"

Naruto sighed hotly, "This way, Danzo- _sama_ …" _Good, he understands his place._

Following a clean path on a dust-ridden wooden floor, the pair trailed into Naruto's room where they stopped at a disgustingly large pile of dirty clothes that looked as though they'd gone months without being washed. Naruto shoved the pile aside, and stood sharply on one particularly short floorboard.

As it raised, Danzo got to see just exactly what was under the floorboard. A large scroll occupied most of the space, which Danzo could only assume was the Forbidden Scroll copy, and under it lay several small piles of paper stapled together, a strange frog-like object that Danzo couldn't identify, and a single real book that read 'Tales of a Gutsy Shinobi'.

Naruto bent down and cradled the scroll in both arms before standing and holding it out to Danzo, looking down all the while.

Danzo carefully took hold of the scroll and slowly unfurled it. With the first reading being the details of the Shadow Clone Technique, Danzo knew it was the copy. Feeling genuine excitement, Danzo rolled the scroll back up and placed it in his robe, being careful to let nothing show on his face. He could let this infringement slip for now… After all, he had received a possession he had yearned after for decades.

He stared at the child's face and observed guilt, shame, and something else. An emotion that his experienced eye could not identify. He did not have time to work on deciphering what this was, as the boy spoke to him, "Danzo-sama is there… I mean, what's gonna happen to me?"

"Because of this? Nothing. I will be rid of this scroll and the Hokage need not know of its existence at all." Relief flooded the child's face, "We will return now, there are many things I must test you on before we begin our training."

* * *

In an enclosed underground room, silence was Danzo's companion; it allowed him to think freely, without the constraints of time it let him pursue his thoughts uninterrupted, to analyse them in such a way that he truly understood what events had transpired.

What his mind currently processed was one Naruto Uzumaki.

From the testing that the boy had undertaken throughout the day, Danzo understood just where the boy's skills lay. And through his interactions he'd been mostly able to decipher his personality.

Although Danzo loathed the idea, he begrudgingly admitted to himself that the boy would be better suited as an infiltration and assassination expert. From the testing Danzo had been witness to the boy's chakra manipulation, or rather, lack thereof, and made the startling discovery that the boy was simply unable to mold chakra properly. The boy simply shoved as much energy into his techniques as he could, Danzo reasoned that this was the only way that the boy had sensed him in the child's apartment by only using a beginner sensor technique.

His physical skills were not much to speak of either; other than being abnormally fast, the boy was very typical in his physical abilities. In direct confrontation the boy would not last long, he'd be more proficient as a support to the more frontline fighters; by providing long-range assistance and remaining well out of the way of the 'blast-zone'.

Yet despite these flaws, the boy had made up for it in his demonstration of stealth. On at least two occasions he had retrieved items of importance from the Hokage's Tower. Within a day of each other. It was needless to say that Danzo had been impressed.

And to have known of the existence of a fairly well-kept A-ranked secret such as details on The Guide, suffice to say his information gathering skills were well developed.

Away from view, Danzo groaned into his palm; _Hiruzen must have known that the boy did not have the qualities of a frontline fighter… That must be the only reason that he was willing to give the boy to me instead of someone closer to the boy, like Minato's student._

Danzo looked up from his lamenting stupor to the files sitting on his desk, detailing his escape from being forced into a position where Hiruzen could watch his every move. _It is a good thing that Kagami's grandson is loyal to me… Without Shisui's interference I would have been caught in Hiruzen's trap, a way to stop me from colluding with my ROOT._

'Naruto Uzumaki, no living relations, is to be removed from his current place of residence at Kaiser apts on Abunai street and relocated to the Namikaze compound with the utmost discretion. This is a direct order from the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi and is decreed as an S-rank secret, punishable by execution. If this decree is made public, the individuals responsible…' Danzo stopped reading, really this was a stroke of genius on his part. He would allow the child to live in his dead father's residence and, as his instructor, he would gain access to any of the hidden secrets that the house may hold. He may not be able to gain the ultimate weapon like he'd wanted, however he could still gain something from the boy's heritage. Not to mention the new reading material the boy had given him…

Suffice to say, Danzo was pleased with the fruits that Hiruzen's offer would bear. Although the teaching arrangement was a hassle, he supposed that it would be interesting to try different styles of teaching on the boy. It was a shame he couldn't just turn him into a ROOT though…

Danzo supposed it didn't matter. He would gain what he wanted (with the exception of an all-powerful weapon) and in return he would give Hiruzen peace of mind, and maybe gain a measure of usable trust from the man. ' _Everything can become a weapon if you're clever enough to find the usability.' Isn't that what your predecessor taught us, Hiruzen? I was always a one to take Tobirama-sensei's lessons to heart, though._

And so it was that, with a ghost of a smile playing on Danzo's lips, The Shinobi of Darkness was engulfed in his namesake.

* * *

 **A/N: It was pointed out to me that Naruto having his hair go white from shock is medically impossible. This is very true. However, most of what happens in the Naruto universe is impossible, such as breathing fire or having demons sealed into children. So I'll be sticking with that character design.**

 **Thanks, again, goes to fauuj for helping me by beta-ing my writing. It would be a much messier affair without his generous assistance.**


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